Followers

Saturday, May 26, 2012

This is a blog post about other blogs.  Things have been crazy in my life lately, and I haven't had the mind to blog; but I have been reading others.  There are so many great ideas out there; let me share with you.

First, the quilt retreat was so much fun.  I am so lucky to be with this great group of women.  Audrey posted here and here including pictures of my projects.  Her stories and pictures are great; I hope you'll skip over and check them out.

And the button candies I labored over?  They melted in the closet that I stored the gifts in for the quilters!  I didn't think the quilt room or the closet were that warm, but wasn't I surprised to find that the closet was.  So I'll be back to work and try to make more to pass around at an upcoming meeting.

Melanie, Sue, and I have been working on Edyta Sitar quilts.  The original intention was to make a block a month.  It wasn't long before I fell off the wagon and got behind.  Now I am way behind.  Last weekend I got that project out and machine appliqued two blocks to bring me to a total of six.  I half considered just making three more and having a nice wallhanging, but I know I'll be sorry if I don't make the entire quilt.  So I'm picking away on that little by little.  Melanie has posted about making the hourglass blocks, and you can read about it here.  Again, I was tempted to take a shortcut and just put straight borders around my blocks.  But I have the fabric to make the quilt as instructed; now I just need to find the time.

One of my favorite projects is this basket quilt that I'm making from fabrics Mom had in her stash combined with fabrics from mine.  My original post was here.  These little 6" blocks are time consuming - especially when I think that I want to make 300 of them.  I am ready to start #102.  My favorite quilts are scrappy ones with hundreds of pieces; this fits the bill.  I am really cranking out blocks while I'm still interested in this project.  Each block is cuter than the one before, and I hope to be able to keep working on this one for quite a while.

I want to thank my TT quilt group friends for the stacks and stacks of wheelchair quilts they have made for the nursing home/assisted living complex my parents lived in.  On Mother's Day as I was feeding Mom her lunch, an aide was wheeling a resident down the hall who was sporting one of those quilts.  It brought tears to my eyes that my friends have shared their time and their materials to make these beautiful quilts.  What started out as a few quilts for the nursing home residents has morphed into sending quilts to the assisted living building as well. 

And the best news for last.  I posted here about my friend Angela and her aha moment.  She recently underwent brain surgery to help her handle her Parkinson's disease.  Here is her blog.  NBC has filmed her progress and will be airing a program in June about this.  I don't have the details yet on when this will be shown, but I will share as soon as I do.  She is one of the most precious friends I have, and you will love her too when you see her story.  Grab a box of Kleenex and read her blog in the meantime.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mary, just catching up with you. Sounds like you haven't let any grass grow under your feet. As always, your work is lovely. I'm especially interested in your friend's blog about Parkinson's. My dad passed of complications from Parkinson's. (You know that no one passes FROM Parkinson's, just the COMPLICATIONS. It's horrible.) Wishing her the best results from surgery. Praying for her healing.
Wishing you, also, a wonderful summer.

Gumbo Lily said...

I love the idea of making lap quilts for nursing homes. What a labor of love.

Pokey said...

Blessings to you, Mary. I enjoyed your share of all, including visiting your friends through their posts! Your gift treats were well loved, so sad about your mints. I think it is precious you are making the basket quilt blending your fabrics with your Mom's. Keep stitchin' and smilin' dear one!
:-}pokey

Melanie said...

Sounds like you've been busy---I'm glad you've found some stitching time too. The best part of our quilt project is how each person interprets it.Don't feel pressured to make it bigger than YOU want. Sue even left one border off(I probably will too!). I just remember everytime I look at the blocks how much fun we had each month talking about it. It started off a BOM about my garden and ended being a BOM about my friends..... Happy Memorial Day.

Karen Sue said...

looks like you've been crazy busy~!! Thanks for sharing.

Audrey said...

I too have been very busy especially at work and haven't even kept up with looking at blogs! Your basket blocks are wonderful and you will be so happy you kept going on this one. Remember it is the process that we enjoy, in addition to the final result.

The Old Parsonage said...

Hi Mary

So glad to see a post from you. Sorry about the buttons. I'll be back to follow the link about your friend.

Leann